[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 49 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 49

    Honoring the victims of the Holocaust, commending countries and 
  organizations for marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of 
       Auschwitz, and expressing the commitment of the House of 
Representatives to strengthen the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry, 
                            and intolerance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 26, 2015

 Mr. Deutch (for himself, Mr. Engel, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. 
 Roskam, and Mr. Israel) submitted the following resolution; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Honoring the victims of the Holocaust, commending countries and 
  organizations for marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of 
       Auschwitz, and expressing the commitment of the House of 
Representatives to strengthen the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry, 
                            and intolerance.

Whereas, during World War II, the Nazi regime and its collaborators 
        systematically murdered 6,000,000 Jews and millions of other 
        individuals;
Whereas more than 60 percent of the Jewish population in Europe before World War 
        II was murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators;
Whereas the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, which included a killing 
        center at Birkenau, was the largest camp complex established by the Nazi 
        regime;
Whereas, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, at least 
        1,300,000 people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945, of 
        whom 1,100,000 were murdered;
Whereas at least 960,000 of the 1,100,000 murdered people were Jewish;
Whereas the Nazi SS also deported to Auschwitz hundreds of thousands of people 
        whom the German Security Police deemed to be inferior, dangerous, or 
        undesirable, including Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, Poles, 
        Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, Afro-Germans, Jehovah's 
        Witnesses, homosexuals, and other groups;
Whereas the Nazis murdered their victims by systematically using such methods as 
        mass executions, hanging, gas chambers, starvation, and torture, by 
        subjecting them to forced labor and unethical medical experimentation, 
        and by denying them even the most basic medical treatment for disease or 
        infection;
Whereas, on January 27, 1945, the Nazi concentration camp complex at Auschwitz, 
        including Birkenau, was liberated by the Soviet army;
Whereas, on November 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly passed 
        Resolution 60/7, which designated January 27th, the anniversary of the 
        liberation of Auschwitz, as annual International Day of Commemoration, 
        and which called on the world to remember the Holocaust and honor the 
        victims of the Holocaust era;
Whereas many countries around the world mark respective national Holocaust 
        remembrance days on January 27, including Denmark, Estonia, Germany, 
        Greece, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom;
Whereas there has been an increase in the number and intensity of anti-Semitic 
        incidents around the world, and Jewish communities are feeling 
        vulnerable in the face of growing anti-Jewish hostility and experiencing 
        targeted, and sometimes deadly, attacks; and
Whereas the United States Department of State expressed its concern for the rise 
        in anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world and referenced numerous 
        polls offering evidence to the claims: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) memorializes the liberation of Auschwitz;
            (2) honors the victims of Auschwitz and other Nazi 
        concentration camps and killing centers, and all other victims 
        of Nazi crimes and aggression;
            (3) honors the efforts of the United States Armed Forces, 
        the armed forces of Allied nations, underground resistance 
        fighters, and other persons who helped defeat the Nazi regime 
        during World War II and liberate Auschwitz and other Nazi 
        camps;
            (4) expresses gratitude to those persons and entities 
        hosting and participating in events commemorating the 70th 
        anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, which includes a 
        United States Presidential delegation attending an event in 
        Oswiecim, Poland;
            (5) reaffirms its support for educational efforts to teach 
        current and future generations about the Holocaust, to preserve 
        the memory of those murdered, and to prevent any future 
        genocide; and
            (6) urges all countries to implement educational lessons 
        about the Holocaust to explain how unchecked intolerance and 
        prejudice, including racial, ethnic, or religious biases, has 
        led to, and could in the future lead to, atrocities as happened 
        during the Holocaust, and to improve efforts to identify and 
        combat anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry and 
        intolerance.
                                 <all>